After waiting for years to move to St. Albert, Angie Weber jumped at the opportunity to live in the city’s first beached neighbourhood.
The mother-of-two had kept her eye on the city while living in Edmonton but it wasn’t until St. Albert moved forward on development of Jensen Lakes that she found where she wanted to live.
“Just moving here, we have met so many new people with kids the same age and it just reminds me how we grew up,” Weber, who moved into the neighbourhood last May, said. “That’s what I really like about it now that I am meeting my neighbours. Everyone is so friendly, which is awesome.”
Jensen Lakes, which spreads across 150 hectares, is owned by Melcor Developments Ltd. There are currently 225 residents living in the neighbourhood, which is located north and west of Walmart and is bordered by Villeneuve Road to the south and Sturgeon County to the north.
In addition to upscale housing, the area is being developed to include duplexes and row houses and will offer a new school, a church, spray park, public parks and a trail system.
Weber said the new school was a bonus but felt more needs to be done to improve access since Villeneuve Road was the only way in and out of the neighbourhood.
“It is kind of a pain,” she said last month. “It is hard to come in and out. It is pretty icy but I think their plan in the next year is to have another road connected to Villeneuve Road. Hopefully, that will be better soon. The road gets you where you need to go so it is not a big deal.”
With Jensen Lakes expected to take over a decade to develop, Weber added she plans to make the most of the currently small neighbourhood.
“It is supposed to be massive,” she added. “Obviously, I don’t want it to be too big but I don’t really have a choice. Hopefully, we can enjoy the lake with a smaller amount of people for a little bit.”
According to the city’s 2018 census, Jensen Lakes also has one of the youngest age averages at 29 years old followed by Riverside at 30.4 and North Ridge at 32.3. The oldest neighbourhood goes to Downtown at 63.7.
While Jensen Lakes boasts being one of the newest and youngest in the city, the most populous neighbourhood in the city is Lacombe Park with more than 7,540 calling it home. The average age of the neighbourhood is 42.1.
David Walker, who lives in Lacombe Park with his wife and three children, admitted the neighbourhood can see heavy traffic at times – but at the same time, he said he knows all the drivers have families.
“There’s always kids tobogganing on the hill out back,” he said. “The playground is very well utilized by the neighbourhood kids as well as the soccer fields, ball diamonds and when you have all that, it gets busy. Having also lived in larger cities and more urban environments, this is nothing. It is so easy to live here. It is a really fantastic place to live.”
Former mayor Richard Plain said the city saw major growth throughout the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s as St. Albert transitioned from a rural town to the municipality it is today. Despite the growth, he said city never lost its identity and continued to keep its small-town feel through community involvement.
“(St. Albert) was a community where everyone knew everyone,” he said. “Everyone knew each other for decades and decades, as is the case in any small town. There is still a strong St. Albert identity, there’s a strong idea of community service. It is less evident today than it was 20 years ago or 30 years ago simply because there’s 65,000 people and less opportunities to serve in the local community activities.”
As the city continues to grow, Plain added there will be some St. Albert residents who spend most of their time in Edmonton and may not experience the entire city despite living in it. He believes the bigger the city gets the more isolated it will become in some ways, which is why neighbourhood identity will play a big role in the future.
